View full sizeStaten Island Advance/Irving SilversteinBlue lights flash on S79 buses on Staten Island -- part of Select Bus Service. Citing safety concerns, two Staten Island lawmakers have asked the MTA to stop the usage of the lights.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The blue flashing lights heralding the arrival of Select Bus Service are distracting to drivers and should be turned off.

That's the message State Sen. Andrew Lanza and Councilman Vincent Ignizio have for the MTA -- with safety concerns in mind, they've asked the agency to stop using the flashing blue lights on buses that are part of Select Bus Service.

In a letter written to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Joseph Lhota, the elected officials cite a city law that states only certain emergency vehicles are permitted to use flashing blue lights on their vehicles.

Not withstanding the legality of the issue, they also claim that motorists could become "desensitized" to flashing blue lights on buses, and then drivers might ignore an actual emergency vehicle when it needs to get through.

Using the lights on buses could "dilute" their effectiveness and create "apprehension and undue distraction to drivers," which in turn, could cause longer response times in an emergency, Lanza (R-Staten Island) and Ignizio (R-South Shore) state in their letter.

New York state law only allows blue flashing lights on vehicles that belong to certain volunteer firefighters, police, fire, ambulances, emergency ambulance service and county emergency medical service vehicles, they said.